Into Another World
by daimaoislove
Summary: As a young, curious merman, Mao's thirst for adventure is unquenchable; venturing away from his territory, he ends up getting himself into a situation that is much more than what he ever expected. A/N: This is a DaiMao mermaid AU. I write AUs only, so all ideas are mine, though, unfortunately, I own none of the characters in this story. This will be multi-chaptered. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

"Hey Mao, I don't think it's a good idea to go any farther than this…remember what the elders told us?" Takkun warned his friend as he swam behind him with hesitation.

"Aw c'mon, we've barely passed the Kingdom borders yet. Besides, if we listen to everything the elders tell us, we'll never have any fun!" Mao retorted, observing a rather large coral species he had never seen before.

Takkun remained skeptical, "I don't know…" he mumbled.

"Hey, what's that?!" Mao exclaimed all of a sudden, managing to startle his friend who had already been on edge after venturing far away from their territory.

"Good Neptune, can you please _not_ do that!" he reprimanded. He noticed his mischievous friend's eyes were sparkling and his gut feeling told him that whatever caught his attention wasn't going to be good. He slowly looked over to where Mao was pointing, and a feeling of dread immediately came over him.

In the far distance, at least a few thousand meters away, there was what looked like a massive shipwreck that they had never been aware of before.

"It must've sank pretty recently," Mao speculated. "I wonder why nobody's mentioned anything about it before…"

"Probably because it's none of our business. Listen, Mao, I think we should go back now, it's getting really late. If anybody finds out that we left the Kingdom we're going to be in a lot of trouble."

Mao ignored Takkun's voice of reason and decided to follow his instincts instead. "I want to see it," he proclaimed, referring to the sunken ship. "Who knows what cool treasures we can find in there…"

" _What_?! Are you out of your _mind_?! _Who knows_ what kind of danger could lie in store for us there, there're probably sharks and eels and Neptune knows what else!"

"Oh, c'mon Takkun…you need to loosen up, take risks. We've already come this far and I haven't seen anything worth your worry at all. I'm gonna go."

"Mao, no. I refuse to swim out any further than this. I'm going back home and you better come back with me," Takkun insisted.

"Fine. You go home, and I'll see the ship by myself," Mao said with determination.

"But what if something happens to you? You can't just go alone, it's not safe."

Mao heaved a breath, annoyed of his friend's pestering. "Takkun, I made my decision and if you don't want to come with me, I'm not gonna force you, but stop nagging me. The sooner I go, the sooner I can get back. At this rate, it's going to get dark and I'll still be here arguing with you."

"I really hate how stubborn you are," Takkun sighed, "just…do whatever. I'm not going to bother with you anymore. If you wanna go, then go. But you better be back before dark or you'll give me no choice but to report to the elders."

"Deal. I'll be back soon enough, just don't tell anybody where I am, alright?"

"What if Takigawa-san asks me about you, what am I going to tell him?"

Mao rolled his eyes, "You can start by telling him it's none of his business…"

"Um, I hate to remind you, but he _is_ your future husband so technically he does have a right to know where you are, in case you've forgotten," Takkun returned wittily.

Mao's face scrunched up with disgust, " _Ugh_ don't say that, we're not even officially betrothed yet—"

" _Yet_ … you said it yourself. Just accept your fate, Mao. I don't know why you hate him so much anyways, he's handsome and strong, and he really loves you. Not everyone is fortunate enough to marry an _alpha_ either, so you should consider yourself lucky," Takkun said almost dreamily.

"You know what buddy, it's getting pretty late, I think you should leave now," Mao exclaimed as he shooed the other merman away.

"Fine, fine, I get it, _sheesh_. I'm leaving…"

"And remember, don't tell anyone where I am, got it? _Especially_ Takigawa-san."

"Okay, I won't. But please be careful out there and hurry back. Don't make me worry about you," Takkun begged.

Mao laughed good-naturedly. He knew his friend only bothered him so much because he cared about him. "I'll be fine. Promise."

And with that, the mermen went their separate ways.

….

Mao swam swiftly toward his destination, enjoying the free field of the ocean wild. He had never been this far from the Kingdom in his entire life, and the experience was exhilarating. Thankfully, he didn't see any merpeople on the way, since he wasn't in the mood to be bombarded with questions like 'where did you come from?' and 'why aren't you in your territory?' He did see a couple schools of fish go by him, though, and he waved at them cheerfully as he continued on his way.

It didn't take Mao long to finally approach the shipwreck, and as he came closer, he was in awe, marveling at the sheer size of it. It was a beautiful ship indeed, and judging by the amount of corrosion on the body, the merman deciphered it could not have been under water for very long. If he had to guess, he would say the wreck happened about five or six years ago, pretty recent considering most known shipwrecks he had heard about were at least a few decades old.

Mao was a bit hesitant at first, but decided to go in and check it out. After all, he hadn't come all this way for nothing, and his curiosity had definitely gotten the better of him. He swam in slowly from the stern and began to explore. As the merman tried descending into the depths of the ship to search for souvenirs, his tail snagged on a sharp nail and he began to bleed.

" _Ouch_ ," he hissed in pain, grabbing his tail to observe the damage. Right above his fin there was a large gash, and clouds of red dissolved in the water around him. "Dammit, I should've paid more attention," he said to himself. "I guess I should just go home and get this taken care of. I can always come back some other day…"

"Leaving already?" a sinister voice came from behind him. The merman abruptly turned around, a feeling of dread settling in the pit of his stomach when he saw a large hammerhead smirking at him. "And here I thought we could have _dinner_ together. The smell of blood is quite tantalizing, you really must stay and join me," the shark insinuated.

Mao started panicking, his heart doing backflips in his chest. If he didn't do something quick, he was going to be some over-sized fish's main course. Literally.

"I s-should really get going now," the merman said, trembling. "M-my parents are going to be worried about me. I'll just come back some other time and we can get to know each other, _hehe_."

Mao's reasoning did nothing to faze the shark, judging by the way it was looking at him as it approached, and soon, the young merman was backed into a corner.

"Mr. Shark, believe me, you wouldn't want t-to eat someone like me, I'm too skinny! See, just skin and bones," he exclaimed, gesturing to his thin frame in an effort to convince the predator.

"Oh, don't worry about me," the shark rasped ferally, baring its teeth, "I think I'll enjoy you all the same. I'm _hungry_ …"

All of a sudden, the beast charged toward his prey, and Mao's sympathetic response kicked in immediately as he darted up and out of the ship at full speed. Any pain he felt in his tail as a result of his injury had long vanished, and he swam for his life as fast as he could.

As the shark trailed him closely, trying to bite at his tail, Mao hurried toward a large coral reef he spotted in the distance. If he could just reach the reef, he would be able to hide in its narrow crevices, and the shark would not be able to get him then.

If only he could hold on a little bit longer…

Mao picked up the pace, his determination to stay alive driving him forward at the fastest speed he'd ever swam. If he had been in the Sealympics right then he would have set a record for sure. The problem, however, was that the shark, motivated forward by the scent of Mao's blood, also increased its speed, and managed to trail only inches away from him.

The reef was close, Mao was almost there…

But by a streak of bad luck, two other sharks appeared out of nowhere and blocked his path to safety. Mao didn't have time to think, he quickly changed his direction and swam as fast as his tail could carry him.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" He really wished he had listened to Takkun for once.

Mao kept swimming for his life as the three large sharks pursued him viciously. He didn't know how long he swam for, too afraid to look back and see if he was still being followed, but before he knew it, he had swam himself onto a deserted shore.

Mao did not know where he was, and the dry land was certainly not a homely environment for a merman, but boy was he relieved when he realized that the sharks had stopped following him.

Exhausted, Mao fell back on the sandy beach underneath the glaring sun. Sure, he didn't get eaten by sharks, but the merman was certain that at this point, the end of his life was certainly at hand.

As Mao's eyes drifted shut, the last thing he remembered was a vision of his parents and his best friend, Takkun.


	2. Chapter 2

_"…are you crazy?! Do you even realize how valuable this is to the scientific community? It would change the field of marine biology forever_!"

" _I've said it before and I'll say it again, once he's back in good health, he's going back where he came from. It's against my ethics to do research on highly intelligent creatures, why do you think I don't study dolphins or whales?_ "

" _Well then, give him to me and I'd be happy to study him! I will conduct a study with his best interests in mind, trust me I won't hurt him, and I'll give you equal credit…no scientist has ever had the opportunity to even see one of these things_ dead _, let alone alive! We can get the Nobel prize for this!_ "

" _I've made my decision, Takiguchi-san. And as my friend and colleague, first and foremost, I trust that you won't do anything behind my back…_ "

Mao woke up to the exchange of some kind of foreign language he had never heard before. His mind was still a bit fuzzy, but his memory started coming back to him soon enough, and he shot up in a sitting position to find that he was only half-submerged in clear water, in a weird container of some sort. He quickly scanned his surroundings and fear began spreading through his nerves, making him panic.

 _Where am I?_ he thought in dreadful silence.

Mao then looked at his tail and found that it was wrapped in a strange cloth, as if someone had bandaged it for him. Paranoid, he quickly took it off and threw it away from him, and it landed in a puddle of water inside of a strangely-shaped white vessel.

Soon, somewhere nearby, Mao could hear the strange voices again and it caused his adrenaline to rush as he thrashed around in the water.

"Watanabe-san, do you hear something?" Takiguchi inquired, referring to the splashes of water he could hear coming from the bathroom.

"Now that you mention it, I do. I thought I was imagining things," Watanabe replied, "Maybe…"

The two scientists exchanged a knowing glance and quickly headed towards the bathroom where Watanabe had been keeping the merman in the bathtub. When they finally got there, they saw the frightened creature sitting upright and backed into the corner, looking at them with wide, panicked eyes.

The scientists looked at each other again, none of them knowing what to do. Neither one of them ever dealt with a creature so exotic before.

Since the merman looked far more frightened than they were, Watanabe decided to approach him. He stepped forward slowly, trying to soothe the creature with gentle words when the latter began thrashing its tail around in a frenzy.

" _Shh_ , calm down I'm not going to hurt you…" the scientist said kindly as he continued his gradual approach.

The merman's heartbeat started racing faster with every step the man took, and he eventually froze in his position when he did not know what else to do.

Watanabe crouched down in front of the bathtub and offered a nice smile, "Hello there," he began carefully, "My name is Watanabe Daisuke. I found you on the beach last night and I wanted to help you. Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you, okay?"

"I don't think he understands you, Watanabe-san…" Takiguchi said, seeing the worried expression on the merman's face. "It might be impossible to communicate with him."

"I don't think so," Watanabe replied as he kept his gaze fixed on the creature before him. "Kindness is universal, as long as he gets the impression that nobody's going to hurt him, I think we can figure something out."

Watanabe put his hand out toward the merman, hoping that the latter would take the opportunity to touch him and see that he was harmless.

Mao looked at the hand that was extended to him, but he remained motionless save for his heaving chest. Watanabe remained patient, however, determined to build trust with the creature.

Eventually, Mao did calm down a little bit, and since the man didn't seem threatening, he slowly reached a hand out to touch his fingers. Watanabe was pleased. "See, I told you I won't hurt you," he offered with a smile.

Mao realized that the man's hand looked awfully similar to his own. He touched each finger, and stroked his palm, and even put his own hand against the stranger's, noting the warmth that emanated from it. The merman was now much more at ease.

Watanabe noticed that the bandage he put around Mao's injury had been removed, and it didn't take long to realize that the merman had thrown it into the toilet.

"Can I see your tail?" the scientist asked, wanting to check on the lesion. Mao just kept staring at him, obviously not understanding a word that was coming out of his mouth. The problem now was to get Mao to trust him enough to handle his tail, a very sensitive part of his body. He eased his hands in the water, causing the merman to grow a bit nervous, but Watanabe kept speaking to him gently to assure him that he meant no harm. When he finally touched the tail, Mao twitched, but still allowed the stranger to handle it. "It looks like his injury healed up pretty quickly. Makes sense. Under water there're predators that hunt the scent of blood, so merpeople probably developed a rapid immune response as an adaptation."

"Do you see why it's so important to study something like this," Takiguchi said, "the implications this could have in medicine could be astounding.

Watanabe got up and faced his colleague, "Let's take him outside and let him free, he's fully healed and there's nothing more we can do for him here."

Takiguchi rubbed his temples nervously, "Did you not hear what I was just telling you? We have an opportunity to make great strides in science with this finding, and you just want to let it slip between our fingers?"

Watanabe turned back and saw that the merman was getting intimidated by their argument, "Let's take this outside, we're bothering him."

The scientists went outside and shut the door to the bathroom, making their way to Watanabe's office to talk.

"Watanabe-san, I won't just stand around and allow you to—"

" _Takiguchi_ ," Watanabe interrupted, "I said. We're letting him free. And that's final," he proclaimed, leaving no room for argument.

Takiguchi sighed, "Fine. How about this. Let's keep him around for a little while longer so we can observe his behavior for our own personal interests. No experiments. Just an observational study for the sake of satisfying our own curiosities. You can't tell me you aren't interested in learning more about him, you are a marine biologist after all and that's what you live for."

Watanabe looked thoughtful for a moment. It wouldn't hurt to keep the merman around for a _little_ while longer. Takiguchi was right, he definitely was interested in learning more about him, even if just for his own sake. "Alright, I agree—but nobody can know about this! I'll keep him here at my house and we'll keep it a secret. If word gets out, he won't be safe from anyone."

"Deal," the other scientist agreed. "Since you'll be keeping him at your place, would it be alright if I came over every morning to watch him for a few hours?"

"Sure. But if he starts getting distressed, we'll need to give him his space."

"That's not a problem. It's settled, then. I'm going to head over to my lab now, I have some work to do."

"Alright, thanks for coming over today," Watanabe said, patting his colleague on the shoulder, "And to think you thought I was crazy when I first told you," he laughed.

Takiguchi chuckled, "I'm going to be honest, I didn't believe you when you told me you found a merman on the shore, I thought you were just pulling my leg."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't joking this time around. Anyways, it's just between you and me, right?"

"Right. I'll see you around."

After his colleague left, Watanabe remembered that if he was going to keep the merman around for a while, he was going to need to feed him. "He's probably hungry right now. I wonder what merpeople eat…fish?" He went to his refrigerator and found some sashimi. "This should do, it is raw fish after all…" When the scientist went in to give the merman food, he found him in the same place he left him in, looking sad and solemn.

 _He must miss his home,_ Watanabe thought with a pang of remorse.

Pushing back the guilt, the scientist cleared his throat to get the merman's attention. "Uh, I brought you something to eat. I figured you were hungry…" he said, stepping over to the bathtub. Mao had no idea what the man was saying, however, so he just stared at him. "I uh, got you some fish…you like fish, right?"

Mao blinked a few times and then looked at what the man was offering him on a platter. Mao cocked his head for a moment, not really understanding what was going on, but upon more careful observation, the merman realized that he was being served what looked like the flesh of _fish._

Mao's face scrunched up in disgust and he refused to take the platter, _merpeople do not eat fish!_ They dwell on seaweed and other ocean vegetation.

Watanabe retracted the plate, wondering what had gone wrong. He was under the impression that merpeople ate fish, but he was obviously wrong.

"You don't like it? Okay, I'll try to find you something else…" the scientist exclaimed. He went back to the kitchen and tried figuring out what other things merpeople could eat. He found a package of nori seaweed in his cabinet and hoped that the merman would like it.

"I found this, do you like seaweed?" Watanabe asked when he got back to Mao, holding out a large sheet of Nori.

The merman cocked his head, _what is this strange food?_ he thought, _It's so flat and dry in texture_.

He hesitantly took the nori sheet and smelled it; it did smell oddly like seaweed, although it also had an aroma that he did not quite recognize. Watanabe watched the merman analyze the food with amusement. He found it especially cute when Mao experimentally touched the tip of his tongue to the seaweed sheet to try it out before realizing he liked it and ate it in a hurry.

"Oh so you like that, huh? I've got plenty more where that came from," Watanabe laughed, handing him another piece of nori.

After Mao finished the entire package, the scientist decided he would try to establish some type of rapport with the merman. He started off by trying to find out his name.

"My name is Watanabe Daisuke," he said while gesturing to himself. "Dai-su-ke. I am _Daisuke_. What's your name?" he asked, now pointing to Mao.

The merman seemed to understand and pointed to himself saying, "Mao."

"Mao," Daisuke repeated with a smile on his face. "I like it," he said more to himself than to the creature. "Mao…" _A beautiful name for a beautiful face._


End file.
